For anyone looking for inspiration for their PR and marketing strategy it makes sense to look at what bigger players are doing. Obviously slavishly copying what they do won’t work, but there are always lessons to be learnt that can benefit your brand, whatever size it is.

So looking at Apple’s strategy over the last few years is a good place to start. It may be difficult for many people to grasp, but 20 years ago the company was in a mess, hanging on for its very survival. Founder Steve Jobs re-entered the picture, pushing through innovative new products beginning with the iPod, and then moving onto the iPhone and iPad. The result? Apple became the biggest company in the world by market capitalisation, selling millions of premium products and building a reputation as the maker of must have gadgets for huge numbers of people.

Keep it simple. Don’t use jargon in press releases, and ensure that your language is straightforward and easy to read.

Value reporters’ time. Apple doesn’t send out many press releases (leading to complaints of secrecy). Contacting reporters sparingly does mean they’ll pay attention when you have important news – though this is easier for the likes of Apple to do compared to a startup that needs the oxygen of publicity on a more constant basis.

Be hands on. Ahead of any interview Apple organised a hands-on product briefing to explain how it worked, the benefits and features. This is a great way to keep control of the conversation – again, it works better for a big player that has something reporters want than a smaller business struggling to attract their attention.

Stay focused. Keep true to your mission (in the case of Apple providing products that allow customers to unleash their creativity). Don’t comment on news or trends that don’t support this as it wastes time and dilutes your message.

Prioritise media influencers. Focus on the press and influencers that will shape the debate and use your time to build strong relationships with them, as opposed to taking a scattergun approach that targets hundreds of people. This is a really important lesson for businesses – it isn’t just about the amount of coverage you get, but also where it is – get into the right publications read by your target audience and your brand will get noticed.

The change in strategy to be more proactive is partly a response to slowing iPhone sales, and perhaps also the well-publicised EU demand that it pays €13 billion in back tax to Ireland. Getting messages out early also allows Apple to monitor feedback and tweak what it is doing to ensure that the final launch goes smoothly and any questions are successfully answered. Whatever it may be, all companies should take a look at Apple’s PR strategy and see how they can apply the lessons to their own communications.

The technology world, outside China, is increasingly dominated by four companies – Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. They’ve even spawned their own, rather ugly collective acronym – GAFA. What’s interesting is that while all four have started from different places in the technology ecosystem they are now competing with each other in areas as diverse as smartphones and mobile devices (Android vs iPhone/iPad vs Kindle/Fire), mapping, and retail (especially music).

But the biggest – and most lucrative – battleground is digital advertising. Both Google and Facebook are using the huge amount of information they know about their users, whether through searches or their social media profiles, to target adverts so that they are more personalised and therefore more effective. In a less creepy way, Amazon analyses what you’ve already bought and suggests potential new purchases.

This reliance on consumer data, has led to issues, with users complaining about their privacy being invaded for example. Others have pointed out that with ‘free’ services like Facebook, the consumer becomes the product, with their data effectively paying for the access they receive.

Up until now GAFA have been pretty united in their use of consumer data and attitudes to privacy. This has now changed spectacularly with Apple CEO, Tim Cook, launching a blistering attack on his rivals, stating that “I’m speaking to you from Silicon Valley where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information.”

If that wasn’t direct enough an attack on Google and Facebook, he added, “We believe the customer should be in control of their own information. You might like these so-called free services, but we don’t think they’re worth having your email, your search history and now even your family photos data mined and sold off for God knows what advertising purpose.”

Before we hail Cook as a white knight of the IT industry, it is worth bearing in mind four facts:

Currently the default search engine in Apple devices is Google, so the company indirectly benefits from “selling off your search history”

He was speaking to EPIC’s Champions of Freedom event, where he was honoured for corporate leadership – so he was hardly likely to speak positively about data-driven rivals.

Putting cynicism aside, there are two other reasons for Apple to embrace privacy and break from other members of the GAFA pack. Firstly, it made a profit of $13.6 billion in its most recent quarter, so it doesn’t really need to upset its more upmarket customers by selling their data for a (relative) pittance.

Secondly, and more importantly, Apple is now moving into new areas where security and privacy are everything – payments (with Apple Pay) and health (with a new ecosystem focused on wearables and sensors). Both of these are based on the most personal of personal data, where a single misstep would destroy consumer trust and essentially stop expansion in its tracks. It might even harm the overall Apple brand.

So Cook (and the rest of Apple’s strategists) have made a choice. They believe that people are happy to pay more for premium iOS products, on the understanding that their personal data will not be abused. It is in stark contrast to Google’s focus on mass market, cheap or free products where consumers pay by giving up control of their information. As the battle within GAFA rages, it will be interesting to see which side comes out on top in both the PR and sales wars.

Very few of us like paying tax, but there’s a fine line between legitimately reducing your tax bill and actively avoiding paying the tax that is due. And at a time of austerity where everyone is tightening their belts, there’s obviously a push by governments to close loopholes and maximise the revenues they receive.

Obviously the most popular thing for companies to do would be to re-organise their tax affairs so that they meet the spirit as well as the letter of the law. But that’s not likely to happen given the enormous sums at stake. Instead expect increased calls for global tax reform (so that the organisations involved don’t have to operate the way they are currently ‘forced’ to) and a slew of feel good announcements that demonstrate the level of investment and support for the UK economy by the companies concerned. Being ultra cynical perhaps the whole tax situation explains the huge support by big tech companies for Tech City – it is simply an elaborate way of diverting attention from their financial affairs…………..

Why Revolutionary Measures?

Marketing is undergoing a revolution. The advent of social media provides the opportunity for one-to-one communication for the first time since the move to an industrial society. This blog will look at what this means for B2B PR and marketing, incorporating my own thoughts/rants and interests. Do let me know your feedback!

About me

I'm Chris Measures and I've spent the last 18 years creating and implementing PR and marketing campaigns for technology companies. I've worked with everyone from large quoted companies to fast growth start-ups, giving me unrivalled experience and ideas.
I'm now director of Measures Consulting, an agency that uses this expertise to deliver PR and marketing success for technology businesses.

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